Plane had previous DIA emergency
Same craft landed in Denver in 1995 after engine failed
By Burt Hubbard, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published December 22, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Saturday's accident was not the first emergency at DIA for the Boeing 737 that swerved off the runway Saturday evening, injuring 38 passengers.
The same passenger jet had to make an emergency landing in Denver 13 years ago.
The Boeing aircraft with tail number N18611 was flying at 31,000 feet on Sept. 19, 1995, when an engine on the right side started vibrating, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane landed safely in Denver, and the engine was removed and replaced.
Investigators determined that a bearing failure was the cause of the engine shutdown.
That problem, and other incidents reported in FAA records, are not believed to be linked to Saturday's crash.
The Boeing 737 500-series aircraft, like the one that crashed, were first built in 1987.
An airplane that old is bound to have a history of mechanical problems, said James Simmons, an aviation professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
"Unless there was an open maintenance order that hadn't been resolved, just because an airplane had problems in the past doesn't really point more strongly to it having problems now," Simmons said Sunday.
Other incidents involving the plane:
* On April 24 this year, the plane's back cargo smoke detector light went on as it was landing, the FAA reported. There was no smoke in the cargo area. The detection light was replaced.
* Three years ago, the plane had two incidents within eight days. On Feb. 2, 2005, an inspection found a one-inch crack in the main fuselage where the frame meets the cabin floor beam. According to the FAA report, the crack was fixed.
Then, on Feb. 10, 2005, another inspection found the frame in the back baggage bin corroded. That, too, was repaired, according to the FAA.
* On Oct. 27, 1996, while the airplane was in cruise mode, a flight attendant reported smoke coming from an oven in the first-class section. The crew deactivated the oven's circuits and the smoke dissipated. The flight landed safely at its intended destination. Maintenance crews found cooking grease in the oven and removed it.
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December 22, 2008
8:20 a.m.
Suggest removal
FrozenTootsies writes:
Yeah. And I think my second cousin's next door neighbor's ex-boyfriend was on that very plane back in 1997 and the lady he sat next to said she was a witch who put a hex on the aircraft...
Which would be about as relevant as anything in this "news" article.